• The Art Directors Guild went with the only Oscar nominees contending in the categories of fantasy film -- "Avatar" -- and period picture -- "Sherlock Holmes" -- at its 14th annual kudosfest Saturday. No contemporary films -- including category winner "The Hurt Locker" -- are in the running at the Oscars, where "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," "Nine" and "The Young Victoria" round out the field. Last year "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" won with both groups, while in 2007
"Sweeney Todd" won the Oscar and "There Will Be Blood" took the ADG
period prize. ADG

• "The Hurt Locker" edged two of its editing Oscar rivals -- "Avatar" and "District 9" -- as well as "Star Trek" and "Up in the Air" to win the drama category at the 60th annual American Cinema Editors awards on Sunday. The Oscar editing race also includes the cutters for "Inglourious Basterds" and "Precious." Since 1990, the film that came up with the ACE went on to win best
picture 13 times. In three of the five years when the ACE
barometer was wrong, the editing winner was at least a contender for
best picture. The exceptions -- in 2007, when neither "The Bourne
Ultimatum" nor "Sweeney Todd" made the final five at the Oscars, and 1999,
when the same fate befell "The Matrix" and "Being John Malkovich." The other ACE winners -- "The Hangover" (comedy), "Up" (animated) and "The Cove" (documentary). ACE

• Brent Lang reports from Monday's Oscars nominees luncheon: "Directors,
actors, and actresses from several of the top films in contention for
Academy Awards this year took time out from what was being billed as an
informal get together (albeit it one with a red carpet and security
worthy of a State of the Union address) to answer questions from a
gaggle of reporters about the Oscar ride, getting into character and, of
course, what they planned to wear on the big night." Among the tidbits he heard: "Christoph Waltz admits his language skills help with seduction. Vera
Farmiga urges flyers not to get behind her baby carriage during
check-in. Woody Harrelson isn't clearing off space on his trophy shelf.
Carey Mulligan has been stalking Kathryn Bigelow and bumping asses with
Quentin Tarantino." THE WRAP

• News doyenne Barbara Walters announced on "The View" Monday morning that her upcoming Oscar night gabfest will be the last after a 29-year run. Her final guests will include Oscar front-runners Sandra Bullock ("The Blind Side") and Mo'Nique ("Precious"). As per the press release, "Walters launched her Oscar night special in 1981 with interviews from
Hollywood superstar Brooke Shields and her mother, Teri, country singer
Loretta Lynn, 'Dallas' actress Linda Gray, music icon Ringo Starr and
model/actress Barbara Bach." The Oscar connection that year was that Sissy Spacek would win the lead actress Academy Award for playing Lynn in "Coal Miner's Daughter." Today Walters said, “This special has been a labor of love for 29 years. I will always
remember when Hugh Jackman gave me a private lap dance, or sitting down
with the legendary Bette Davis, or being taught to tango by Al Pacino. It’s those priceless moments that have made this special the Oscar tradition that it has become, but I truly feel enough
is enough.”

• Michael Cieply sat down with rookie producers for the OscarsBill Mechanic and Adam Shankman. "A film producer by trade -- his 'Corlaine' was nominated this year as best animated feature -- Mr. Mechanic has
become the Oscar show’s time cop. The 24 awards, he said, will be
allotted four and a half minutes each, for a total of one hour and 48
minutes, if all the speeches are tight. The show’s 13 'acts' -- the
singing, dancing and jokes -- get 31 minutes in all. 'How do we get
rid of things nobody notices?' is Mr. Shankman’s description of Mr.
Mechanic’s favorite question about the show. One such cut: What the two
of them describe as introductions of introductions, something Mr.
Mechanic found, in an intensive review of the last 13 shows, can add 15
minutes to a broadcast." NEW YORK TIMES

• Scott Feinberg has two in-depth interviews with Oscar lead actor contenders Jeff Bridges ("Crazy Heart") and Colin Firth ("A Single Man"). Scott chatted with both of them in the green room of the Lobero Theatre just before their respective tributes from the Santa Barbara filmfest. AND THE WINNER IS

• Five-time Emmy champ David Canary is leaving "All My Children" after 27 years. Playing twins Adam and Stuart Chandler netted the actor 11 nominations. But now that the ABC soap has shifted from shooting in Gotham to the L.A., Canary is flying the coop. As Allison Walman writes, " Losing Canary is a major blow. He is not the kind of actor
who can be replaced with another star. That doesn't mean the soap won't
try, but the scuttlebutt is that when David stops shooting in March,
Adam will leave Pine Valley alive. As such, the door will be left open
in case Canary changes his mind or chooses to return for a visit ...
maybe even an extended visit that would be a story arc?" TV SQUAD

• Steve Pond reports that double Oscar nominee Kathryn Bigelow ("The Hurt Locker") has her next job lined up -- "directing the pilot for 'The Miraculous
Year,' a potential HBO series created, written and executive produced by
John Logan. The series is reportedly a character-driven,
contemporary look at the arenas of art and theater -- or, as HBO
describes it, 'an examination of a New York family as seen through the
lens of a charismatic, self-destructive Broadway composer.'" And, Pond says, "After shooting the pilot, Bigelow is expected to
re-team with 'Hurt Locker' screenwriter Mark Boal on 'Triple Frontier,'
which is set in a South American hotbed of drugs and crime near the
borders of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. THE ODDS